Reyna and Jason: The Praetor's of New Rome - Sacrifice

I'm really sick of stabbing people.

"It's gonna be okay Reyna." Max told me while I paced on the training grounds.

We were in the center of the sword training arena, which was designed like a mini coliseum. Rows of empty benches overlooked the grounds above. One either side of the arena, their were two large wooden doors. One led directly back to the camp, the other was storage room where we held dummies and bails of hay.

"When I get my hands on that assassin. I'm.... I'm going to-" I roared in rage and tossed my sword at the nearest dummy with all of my might. The blade pieces  the dummies head.

Max sat down on the benches after a hard day of sparing with me. He wore a standard purple T-Shirt and cargo shorts. He offered to help me blow some steam off with sword practice, which was a welcome outfit for me.

For him, not so much. He had cuts all over his arms and legs. Nothing serious, but they were a sign of how hard I pressed him. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind.

"We will find him, shorty. I pro-"

"Stop calling me shorty!" I shouted.

He sat back and raised his hands. "Okay okay, sorry about that."

His reaction somehow made me even madder. I kicked the dirt and screamed.

Max stood up and slowly walked towards me while I tried to control my breathing.

"Rey, I'm sorry. I know your upset-"

I tackled him with a hug, resting my head on his broad chest. "I'm sorry. Gwen told me I need to get better with controlling my emotions and you did nothing wrong. You don't need to apologize."

Max chuckled softly and accepted my hug, his powerful arms holding me gently. "It's alright Rey. I get it. There's no need to apologize to me. When..... when Ben died, I had the same reaction. Im just happy Jason made it out okay."

I pulled away from him, feeling a little better. I looked him in the eye and then pushed him. He barely budged form the push.

"What was that for?" He asked, a puzzled look on his face

"What was the deal with you? Back at the meeting? Those things your said to Jason. That wasn't cool." I told him. I had been so preoccupied with Jason these past two weeks, I hadn't spoken to Max this whole time. That argument festered in my mind this whole time.

Max face became serious. "Because I'm right. Look, I'll admit taking it a little to far. But we can't sit around doing nothing! Ben died because John was more concerned about protecting the camp, that it gave our enemies an opportunity to strike at their leisure. Did you really think I was going sit around and let Jason make the same mistake?"

"He wasn't going to make the same mistake." I argued.

Max looked behind him and threw his arms in the air, as if trying to find someone to back him up. "You can't be serious Reyna. I'm not close to the guy, but I saw him every night during our meetings. He was running himself ragged. He wasn't in the state of mind to make any decisions, much less one as big as this one."

Max walked over and grabbed his sword. He stabbed it in the ground between us. "And I'm just going to flat out say it. Jason is not cut out to be a Praetor."

I kicked the sword away and got into Max's face. "Jason is more then capable of being a Praetor."

"Maybe with someone else as Praetor besides him. But unfortunately Sam is not cut out to be Praetor either. It's a two man job for a reason, Rey. And if one person is going to do it, it should be someone capable of making the hard choices no one else can. Jason is too goodie goodie to be that person." Max responded back.